Croatian Encyclopedia

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The Croatian Encyclopedia (Croatian: Hrvatska enciklopedija) is a Croatian encyclopedia which is currently published by the Miroslav Krleža Lexicographic Institute.

The first Croatian Encyclopedia was begun in the 1930s in Zagreb by the publisher Mate Ujević. After the formation of the Banovina of Croatia the project received the support of the government, as well as from the Catholic Church. Articles were writtern by academics from the University of Zagreb and other parts of the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The encyclopedia was planned in 12 volumes. The first was published on February 10, 1941. Only two months later, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia dissolved and the Independent State of Croatia was formed. The fifth volume was published in early 1945 in the waning days of the state.

After the Yugoslav Partisans invaded Zagreb, the fifth volume's copies were largely destroyed, and the encyclopedia's editors ceased work on the project. Many of the people who had worked on it later helped write the so-called Serbo-Croatian language General Encyclopedia of Yugoslavian Lexicographic Institute initiated by the Croatian writer Miroslav Krleža.

Upon Croatian independence in 1991, the first steps were taken in completing a new Croatian Encyclopedia. The Miroslav Krleža Lexicographic Institute published the first out of 11 volumes of the encyclopedia in 1999.

As of April 2007, eight of eleven volumes have been published.